"Mahala is dead."

The breath from my lungs collapsed as my chest felt constricted, confined in an ever-closing space. Unable to breath, I began to feel lightheaded as the world around me began to tilt and shift into unrecognizable images. Eric had stood from his seat beside me and was shaking my shoulders, even slapping my cheek lightly, to no avail.

Finally thick, warm air seeped down my windpipe and into my shriveled lungs. Relishing in the feeling for only a moment, I lost it a second after.

Screams, deafening and shrill, ripped from my throat in a constant roaring wave, echoing off of the walls in tight reflections and making my own ears sting.

The screams finally turned deeper, more hateful, as I stood and grabbed a glass cup to my right and hurled it against the wall, feeling satisfaction as it shattered into a wave of tinkling glass. Drawing quick, anxious breaths I pushed Eric from me as I ran over to the door and threw it open, wasting no time in sprinting into through the frontyard and shifting into my Wolf.

My bones broke and reformed into my sleek canine body with ease, razor-edged claws pushing from my paws and digging into the soft earth from rage. Howling with an uncontrollable, untouchable anger I've never felt before, I ran full force into a nearby pine tree thick with pine cones with my jaws wide open, my teeth ripping apart the flaky flesh of the bark and tearing meat from the inside. Blood bloomed on my tongue as I realized I had torn open my gums, and the taste only fueled my fire. Screaming with a psychotic craze, I backed up several feet before leaping onto the mangled wood and wrenching it from the roots.

Collapsing onto the log, the tears finally broke free as I felt myself shift back into my normal self. Nikita hadn't bothered to take over like she normally would've when their human gets angry; she knew it would've been no use.

Chill bumps raked down my arms and legs as the icy tears rolled down my cheeks and soaked into the dried bark. The only thing that kept me from falling apart was the warm hands spread wide against my back.

***

"Ellie!" Haley shouted out to me from outside my window, a huge grin plastered on her shining face as the freckles she had when she was 10 stood stark against her cheeks. "Come play with me!"

Running through the hallways of my small cottage and out the front door, my clean feet slapping against the hardwood immaturely, I was shocked at the brightness and warmth of the day. Bluebirds sang merry tunes as they glided from tree to tree, and the clouds drifted lazily through the brilliant rays in the sky while the healthy grass tickled the arches of my feet.

"Come on!" her prepubescent voice called again. Watching her long golden locks trail after her as she darted body through the yard, I smiled.

"I'm it!" I shouted and took off after her as she started to scream mirthfully, careening herself around trees and stumps in the soil. Easily dodging the obstacles and stretching out my hand, I brushed her silky hair when she suddenly fell from my grasp and the cheery world around me turned into a ghostly, milky black. I couldn't see past my bare feet or even the long T-shirt I was wearing, causing my heart to beat harshly inside my small ribcage and goosebumps to pulse on my skin. Without taking a step, I took a deep shaky breath.

"He-hello?" I stammered. The air around my eardrums seemed to drop in pressure, and I felt hidden eyes watching my shivering body. "Who's there? I know you are," called out again, this time stronger and more defined. I was answered with a deep chuckling bouncing off the walls, causing it to seem like the sound was coming from every direction.

"Oh, Elenore," an almost satanic voice cooed from somewhere infront of me. "So pretty, so weak," it circled around the room unseeingly. "Such a little girl can't have so much courage, can she? Not when she can't even protect the ones she loves."

"Stop it," I whispered quietly, the memory of Haley's dead suddenly popping into my blissfully ignorant mind.

"Why, Elenore? Can't you handle the truth? Do you want to see what happened to her? How she died blaming you?" It asked in a sneering tone. Immediately shaking my head no, I bowed my head and tried to keep the tears at bay.

"No..No," I replied, trying to be brave for once. "I don't need to see what happened to her. She's gone, and she'd never blame me for that."

The voice chuckled deep and low, reminding me of how a diesel engine would sound idling on a curb. Looking up into the blackness, I waited.

As I had thought, it finished as a pair of luminous green-golden eyes flashed just 10 feet before me.

"Are you sure?" a grown Tiberius growled as the fog cleared between us, revealing him in a bloody plaid shirt and ripped denim jeans with scratches running down the length of his arms and neck. Growling in response with a ferocity I wasn't expecting, I felt myself grow in height and my muscles strengthen.

"Not this time, Ti," I growled gutturally as my body began shifting into my Wolf. "Not this time."

Snarling I lunged my full size Wolf body at his human one, aiming straight for his neck.